Healthy and hungry, the Louisville Cardinals are pushing toward the top position on the s-curve. Duke retains that position for another week. The Blue Devils’ overall body of work remains impressive, and Ryan Kelly’s foot injury is a bigger concern than a close loss to NC State in Raleigh. If Kelly doesn’t return healthy, the NCAA Selection Committee will have to evaluate the Blue Devils without him. We don’t yet know how that resume might compare, or how quickly Kelly might return.

All four No. 1 seeds remain the same as last week: Duke (East), Louisville (Midwest), Michigan (South), and Kansas (West). The bracket and s-curve are for games played through Sunday (Jan. 13). Teams chasing the top line as two-seeds include Indiana, Arizona, Minnesota, and Syracuse.

This week’s bubble includes Kentucky. One could easily make the case that UK’s resume isn’t tournament-worthy. It’s hard to argue for a team that’s 1-5 vs. RPI Top 150 opponents, and whose best win is fellow bubble-dweller Maryland. But since it’s mid-January and UK is very talented, although young, the Wildcats remain as one of the last team’s in the bracket. They open as a First Four participant against Indiana State. The Sycamores’ wins over Miami-FL and Ole Miss – two teams in the current field – are just enough to keep ISU on the right side of the ledger. Joining UK and ISU as First Four participants – Texas AM and Arizona State.

We still have a long journey toward Selection Sunday. The next two weeks will give us a clearer picture of the overall landscape. With unbalanced schedules, it’s hard to evaluate conference records at this point. Later, it’s important to compare schedules within the conference. It’s not just the number of conference wins, but who those wins are against that matters. Similar records aren’t necessarily the same anymore.

Enjoy another great week of hoops.

UPDATED: January 14, 2013 | Through games played Sunday, January 13

Teams in CAPS represent the projected AUTOMATIC bid. Exceptions are made for teams that use an abbreviation (UTEP, BYU, etc).

FIRST FOUR PAIRINGS – Dayton (First Round)

Kentucky vs. Indiana State | East Region

Texas AM vs. Arizona State | West Region

NORFOLK STATE vs. WAGNER | East Region

CHARLESTON-SOUTHERN vs. LONG BEACH | Midwest Region

BRACKET PROJECTION …

EAST – Washington, DC

MIDWEST – Indianapolis

Philadelphia

Lexington

1) DUKE

1) LOUISVILLE

16) NORFOLK STATE / WAGNER

16) LONG BEACH / CHARLESTON SO

8) Marquette

8) Baylor

9) MEMPHIS

9) Temple

Dayton

Salt Lake

5) Ohio State

5) New Mexico

12) Kentucky / Indiana State

12) BUCKNELL

4) BUTLER

4) Michigan State

13) MID TENNESSEE ST

13) NORTH DAKOTA ST

Lexington

Salt Lake

6) Cincinnati

6) UCLA

11) Colorado State

11) Saint Louis

3) FLORIDA

3) GONZAGA

14) WRIGHT STATE

14) S.F. AUSTIN

Dayton

Kansas City

7) Oregon

7) Oklahoma State

10) Oklahoma

10) Wyoming

2) Indiana

2) Minnesota

15) IONA

15) NORTHEASTERN

WEST – Los Angeles

SOUTH – Dallas

Kansas City

Auburn Hills

1) KANSAS

1) MICHIGAN

16) SOUTHERN

16) STONY BROOK

8) Wichita State

8) Colorado

9) Georgetown

9) Boise State

Auburn Hills

Austin

5) Illinois

5) Notre Dame

12) Texas AM / Arizona State

12) BELMONT

4) NC State

4) Missouri

13) DAVIDSON

13) UTAH STATE

San Jose

Austin

6) Miami-FL

6) Kansas State

11) Mississippi

11) North Carolina

3) SAN DIEGO STATE

3) CREIGHTON

14) HARVARD

14) OHIO

San Jose

Philadelphia

7) VCU

7) UNLV

10) Pittsburgh

10) Wisconsin

2) ARIZONA

2) Syracuse

15) WEBER STATE

15) FLORIDA GULF COAST

NOTES on the BRACKET: Duke is the No. 1 overall seed followed by Louisville, Michigan, and Kansas.

N.C. State added a dynamic wing scorer late in their 2015 recruiting efforts on Sunday as reclassified 6-foot-7 wing Maverick Rowan committed to the Wolfpack. A three-level scorer, Rowan was previously committed to Pitt and later backed off of his pledge to the Panthers before deciding to move up a grade by taking two summer…